You will not find David Hammons boasting about his newest work in your favorite glossy art magazine.

No sir, Hammons is one of the most elusive artists out there, and is a far cry from narcissistic. He barely talks to anyone in the arts, and when he does, it is virtually never about himself. Pretty refreshing in a world built on vanity and shameless self-promotion, but if you are trying to find some dirt on this guy, you might just be out of luck.

Hammons has never been your quintessential artist. He's not huge fan of publicizing his work, artist statements are few and far between, and you will never hear your theories around his art confirmed. In fact, Hammons once explained, “I can’t stand art actually. I’ve never, ever liked art.” So why make it? Well, he’s surely not doing for the pretentious high-class art world. Instead, he is doing it for the streets and his fellow black Americans.

After Hammons almost failed out of high school, he figured his only option was to become an artist. So off to LA it was! It was there that Hammons developed a passion for the Black Power movement, and in turn, his artistic career began to take form. Since, Hammons has become the poster child for what it means to critique black life in America.

There is pretty much no media that Hammons won’t touch. Elephant dung? Sure. Chicken parts? Totally. Random people's hair? Of course. While this hodgepodge of materials may seem like the guy is just grasping for any provocative thing that might have an impact, Hammons’s true infatuation with art is to take symbols and objects and mess with them (and quite possibly, your head).

I think if any artist experiences the woes of cognitive dissonance, it is David Hammons. He hates the art world, yet that is where he thrives. He makes art that shuns the Wall-Street-Upper-East-Side culture in favor of Harlem flare, yet he shows work in New York’s blue chip galleries. The contradictions are strong in this one.

Think the whole hating the art world thing is a charade? Well perhaps this little gem of a performance piece will ease your mind. In his ever so perfectly titled work, Pissed Off, Hammons decided to whip it out and piss on Richard Serra’s steel behemoth sculpture T.W.U. and document it. Feeling that pissing on Serra’s work was not enough, he then later went back and threw a bunch of worn out sneakers on the sculpture. So while we know virtually nothing about who Hammons is as a person, we can confirm that public urination and vandalism is okay in his book. Knowing that, perhaps it's better that he keeps his mouth shut.